A Madman With a Guitar || Héctor Rivera X Reader

The Look He Gave

  You didn't know how long you had been sitting there, in his lap, headache slowly fading, waves lapping at the edge of the docks, peaceful. With him. Just him. But then the sun started to set, and it seemed even more beautiful and perfect and everything was fine, best of all, you were no longer hungover and could probably walk back on your own, but you knew that you wouldn't dream of doing that. 

You heard a quiet yawn above you, bones rattling around your waist. 

"Did you fall asleep?" You asked, smug, hiding some flusteredness.  

Héctor paused "Just a little nap." 

You laughed a bit and elbowed him gently "Didn't realize I made such a good pillow." 

He was quiet. No witty response, sarcastic clap-back, just silence. It worried you a bit, but you weren't sure how to break that silence. 

"Look, the sun is setting, we should head back, chamaco. Chicharròn will never let you hear the end of this." He teased, nudging you gently with his chin. 

"Chicharròn never lets me hear the end of anything. I could just drink some water and he'd tell the story for the rest of his life." 

"His death, you mean." 

"Both are right, sorta. He still exists." 

Héctor shook his head lightly and made a movement that looked like an attempt at getting you off, but not like he was actually trying to move you. You slid off him, a gentle thump and some creaking coming from the rotting boards beneath you. 

"You said you know how I feel. About you." 

He nodded, that smile, his smile creeping onto his face. "I do, sí." 

You could feel your skull lighting up already. Héctor just smiled wider. 

"How do you feel about it?" 

The smile faltered, then brightened. He relaxed a little. You knew this look from how he'd look at Imelda in the distance. The smile, the stare, the pride and longing. Or you were reading into it way, way too much.

He looked away, out into the water, giant, vibrantly glowing fish, koi, you guessed, alébrijes floating through the murky waters. 

"Ah, I.. I'm not sure." He almost whispered, like he was dreaming, only half present. 

"You smile an awful lot around me." 

"You make me happy, what else should I do? Frown and look all angry like a.." 

"Like a burro!" 

He chuckled. 

"You seem to have an awful lot of experience with burros, chamaco." 

You raised your browbones "You know I lived on a farm, right? And how all good farms have a burro or two because they're scary and angry and fight off foxes and coyotes and stuff?" 

"Do I look like I lived on a farm? I really must look terrible, then!" 

You laughed and elbowed him. 

"I don't look that bad! You certainly don't. Besides, I'd be able to tell by the smell of a weird mix of fly-spray, poop, and hay if you lived on a farm." 

"Ay, ay, ay, that really must be bad. Like staying out here. C'mon, Y/N, you're shivering. Let's go." 

He stood up and held out a hand for you, that look on his face again. That look of admiration and loving and longing, of loneliness but still being together with an amazing someone, a look of love. A look of being in love. Maybe even a look of being in love with you. You took his hand, pulled yourself onto him, and half fell onto him with a burst of laughter from both of you. The walk back was five minutes, laughing, teasing, talking. 

Then you arrived back and Chicharròn began with his making fun of you and Héctor, making comments in Spanish you didn't understand but you knew embarrassed him by his pink, glowing face, by the awkward laughs and swishing of hands and Chicharròn pointing at you as well. 

Despite the teasing it earned you, something you would always, always have, or maybe not always and Chicharròn would someday fade, you knew it was all worth it. Staying under this roof, Héctor's roof. Despite the flooding, the rotting boards, the guitar that was well kept but never played. 

It would be even more worth it, though, if you could be with him. To see that look he used to always give Imelda directed towards you, like it was beginning to now. 

To hear one "I love you, Y/N." 

You'd give the world for that.